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US sanctions: Huawei likely to run out of smartphone chips soon

Khabarhub

August 9, 2020

2 MIN READ

US sanctions: Huawei likely to run out of smartphone chips soon

Huawei logo

WASHINGTON: A company executive has said Chinese tech giant Huawei will soon run out of processor chips to make smartphones owing to the US sanctions.

Richard Yu, president of the company’s consumer unit, said Huawei will be forced to stop its production of its own most advanced chips in a sign of growing damage to Huawei’s business from the US pressure.

Huawei Technologies Ltd., is currently at the center of US-Chinese tension over security and technology.

The dispute has also spread to include the Chinese-owned video app TikTok and China-based messaging service WeChat, according to moneycontrol.com.

The US had last year cut off Huawei’s access to US components and technology. The penalties were further tightened in May this year when the White House barred vendors from using US technology to produce components for Huawei, the report said.

The production of Kirin chips designed by Huawei’s engineers will stop September 15 as they are made by the contractors that need the US manufacturing technology, according to Yu, adding that Huawei lacks the ability to make its own chips.

“This is a very big loss for us,” Yu said adding, “Unfortunately, our chip producers only accepted orders until May 15 in the second round of U.S. sanctions.”

The production will close on September 15, according to him.

He added that this year could be the last generation of Huawei Kirin high-end chips.

Huawei, meanwhile, has been denying accusations of facilitating Chinese spying.

Meanwhile, the TikTok’s owner, ByteDance Ltd., are also under the US pressure to sell the video app.

It may be noted that President Donald Trump has already announced a ban on unspecified transactions with the TikTok.

(With inputs from Agencies)

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